Privacy issues have always been an interesting topic in the crypto market. On one side is the emphasis on openness and transparency by blockchain, while on the other side, privacy needs have always objectively existed—whether for financial security or commercial considerations, these needs have never disappeared.

By 2025, a noticeable shift has begun to emerge. The involvement of institutional forces deepens, regulatory approaches become clearer, and cryptographic technologies like zero-knowledge proofs are becoming increasingly mature. The privacy track is no longer just about early adversarial anonymous solutions but has evolved into a more systematic, composable, and truly compliant infrastructure form. In other words, privacy is becoming an indispensable key in crypto finance.

The digital performance is quite intuitive. In the second half of 2025, the privacy sector clearly rebounded. Traditional privacy assets like Zcash and Monero outperformed the overall market, with Zcash's annual increase approaching 1100%, temporarily surpassing Monero's market cap—this reflects not speculation but a market re-evaluation of optional privacy and flexible compliance. Compared to the previous perception of privacy coins as niche hedging tools, this wave of warming demonstrates a re-assessment of the long-term value of privacy infrastructure.

From the perspective of technological evolution, the privacy sector is undergoing a qualitative leap. Early privacy projects mainly addressed one problem: how to hide transaction paths. Projects like Monero, early Zcash, and Tornado Cash all centered around this core need. We can call this phase Privacy 1.0. That was the initial form of the privacy track.